Grindelwald's Apprentice
by Kristen Riddle
Summary: Hmm...I think all my fics are getting to be about Tom Riddle. Well this one is too. Tom gets trained under the Dark Lord who came before him. Review please!


Grindelwald's Apprentice  
  
*Note* In case you were wondering, Grindelwald is the Dark Lord Dumbledore defeated in 1945. (Chocolate Frog card? Yeah…) If you do the actual math, Riddle wouldn't be the right age but… I'M ALLOWED TO FUDGE IT! ~*Kristen Riddle*~  
  
People walked into the inn, had a few drinks, or went into Diagon Alley through the secret passageway in the back of the tavern. Tom Marvolo Riddle watched them all. To them, he was just a boy, a boy who earned his money by working at the Leaky Cauldron. Nothing special. Just a boy. The witches and wizards who passed through barely gave him a second glance. But that was all right to Tom.  
  
He didn't like the people to stare at him, like he was something strange, although he was. Many passersby did not know that he was the last and only heir of Salazar Slytherin, one of the greatest Dark wizards the world had ever known. They didn't know he was an orphan, abandoned by his father before he was even born and his mother dying right after he was born. They didn't know he was part Muggle, and had spent the first eleven years of his life - and all the summers after that - in Brickstone's, a Muggle orphanage. And they didn't know he had a dark past and an even darker future.  
  
But even Tom didn't know this last one. And he lived a fairly normal life for an orphaned teen, working all summer and attending Hogwarts School the rest of the seasons.  
  
Tom was in his fourth year at Hogwarts. No one could have guessed from his marks that he had almost flunked out in his first year. Until he was almost twelve, Tom showed no signs of magical powers at all, and could not even use a wand. But after he was threatened with expulsion if he did not get his grades up, he managed to give his powers a jumpstart and soared to the head of his class. He was a very smart boy, who kept his studies ahead of his social life. In fact, he had few friends and few enemies. He mainly kept to himself. This was how he liked it.  
  
Tom looked up from the counter he was wiping down as a chilly breeze swept in the door. This was not unusual, since it was the middle of winter break, and the weather was snowy and cold.  
  
But it was the figure who had just entered the tavern that caught his eye. It was wearing a hooded black cloak, and unlike the other travelers who stopped by, it did not remove its hood when it entered the warm room.  
  
At first Tom though it was probably a shunned creature, like a hag or a goblin, or maybe it was a man whose face had been accidentally transfigured. Or maybe, Tom thought, his blood beginning to boil, it was a dementor, a creature he despised. But it was no matter. Tom's job was to serve everyone who came in, and as the hooded figure sat down at the counter, Tom put down his rag and went over to serve him.  
  
To Tom's relief, his happiness did not begin to wear away as he approached the figure, meaning it wasn't a dementor. "Can I help you, sir?" he asked politely.  
  
"Nothing," the figure said. It had a low, raspy voice.  
  
"Are you sure?" Tom asked. The figure nodded. Tom wondered why a man who wasn't planning to buy anything had even come in to the tavern, but he busied himself with washing the counters and soon forgot about the mysterious stranger.  
  
Half an hour went by. Tom started to wash some dishes when the hooded figure said, "Riddle," and motioned silently for Tom to come over.  
  
At first, Tom came without thinking twice. But then he thought. How could this cloaked figure have known his name? They had been alone in the bar for the entire time the figure had been there, so it couldn't have overheard. Tom shrugged it off and walked over to it.  
  
The cloaked figure looked around quickly, then removed its hood, revealing its face to Tom. It was a man. A normal man, not even disfigured or scarred. Tom was puzzled.  
  
"Riddle," the man repeated. "Just the boy I need."  
  
"Why do you need me, sir?" Tom asked. "And how do you know my name."  
  
The man laughed a cold laugh for a few minutes. "I know everything, boy," he said. "I need you…to become my apprentice."  
  
Tom felt even more confused now than he had before. "Excuse me, sir, but who are you?"  
  
The man laughed again. Tom was starting not to like this laugh. It sent chills up his spine and made his heart stop. "I am the great Dark Lord, Grindelwald!" the man growled.  
  
Tom gasped, first at the thought that he was standing in the presence of a very powerful Dark Wizard, and second that someone had called him his true name. Only his Transfiguration teacher, Professor Dumbledore, called him by his true name. Everyone else said "You-Know-Who" and "He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named." As Dumbledore said, "fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."  
  
"You have heard of me then?" Grindelwald asked, almost mockingly. Tom nodded nervously. "Yes, but I had never seen you."  
  
"True," said Grindelwald. "I don't appear in public much anymore. I have more Ministry of Magic fools on my tail than I can kill with one spell." He smiled. "Which is why I need you, Riddle. I will teach you the ways of the Dark Arts. If I am ever defeated, you will replace me as the Dark Lord."  
  
Tom gulped. He had wanted revenge, but he wasn't so sure he wanted this much. He was only fourteen, after all. He wasn't ready for this much power. This much Dark. He wasn't so sure.  
  
"I can see you are having trouble making a decision. Don't think you're ready for it, do you?" Tom shook his head. "I can sway you to my side." He looked at the counter, and Tom followed his gaze down. A small picture was playing, like a Muggle television screen, on the smooth surface of the counter. Tom peered at it. He could make out a small girl and a dementor, heading in for the kiss…  
  
"No!" Tom shouted, looking away from the picture. "Don't show me anymore, please," he pleaded. The picture stopped.  
  
"You miss her don't you?" Grindelwald asked. Tom looked away, so the wizard would not see his eyes, and tried not to let tears come out. He nodded slowly. "All your life you've wanted revenge. Sweet, black, revenge. Isn't that true?" Tom nodded again, anger taking the place of his sorrow. "This is how to do it, Riddle. Get back at your filthy Muggle father; get rid of the Ministry! Will you join me?"  
  
Tom turned to face the Dark Lord. "Yes, master," he said firmly.  
  
"Excellent," said Grindelwald.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Tom woke to a bright beam of sunlight shining in his face. Without opening his eyes, he reached out his hand to try and shield his eyes from the sun. He accidentally struck something on the bedside table, and it fell crashing to the floor. Tom opened his eyes. It was not sunlight shining, it was moonlight.  
  
Alarmed, Tom picked his diary up off the floor and put it back on the table. He became totally silent for a few moments, making sure no one in the dormitories had woken. No one must wake tonight. Everything had to go as planned.  
  
After sitting in the dark for a while, Tom began to move very slowly and quietly. He got dressed and grabbed his wand. Although he didn't need it much any more, tonight he was doing very difficult spells. He tucked it in his pocket.  
  
As he walked around his sleeping Slytherin classmates, he suddenly disappeared. Becoming invisible was a spell he was so used to he didn't even need his wand. Gindelwald had taught him the spell, before he had been killed.  
  
He had trained with the great wizard for two years. He kept working at the Leaky Cauldron and attending Hogwarts so he would not arouse suspicion. If people knew the Dark Lord had an apprentice, they would try to kill him, too. Every day, Tom would go to school or to work, then settle down as if he were going to sleep. Then he would go to Grindelwald's hideout. At first, the Dark Lord had to transport him there with a special spell. But as Tom learned how to illegally Apparate, this was no longer needed. Tom would shadow his master all night. Sometimes, his master would train him, teaching him complex potions and spells. Some days, his master would have business, and Tom would go along with him to Muggle torturings and Dark Arts meetings. Tom was very bright, and picked up the information quickly.  
  
Then one day when Tom Apparated to the hideout, Grindelwald was not there. There was no trace of him. This had happened a few times. He would be called out to some where and stay late, or forget about Tom. Tom was not worried, he simply Apparated back to Hogwarts. The next day, Grindelwald would owl him about where he had been. But this particular day, there was no owl for Tom. But there were so many owls, this didn't seem to matter.  
  
It seemed almost everyone in the Great Hall had received a letter. The boy next to Tom tore open an envelope. Tom, curious to know what was going on, looked over his shoulder. There was an article in the envelope. A huge headline spread across the page read:  
  
THE DARK LORD HAS BEEN KILLED AT LAST!  
  
Tom's heart sank, unlike almost everyone's in the room. There went his last chance at revenge. He hadn't learned nearly enough to become the next Dark Lord. He had failed.  
  
That night, Tom remembered, he had gone to Grindelwald's hideout again, and had seen something he had never seen before. There was a small black book on the counter. Tom opened it, but there was nothing written in it. Or so it appeared. Tom knew Grindelwald would never keep a useless item, so he chanted a spell and the writing magically appeared.  
  
Tom-  
  
If you are reading this, them I have either been killed or captured. This is a diary of memories I have been keeping ever since I became apprentice to the Dark Lord before me. In this, you will find my plans. I know you will carry them out because I taught you well. But from this night on, you must put your memories in a diary every day, so your successor will know all of your plans. It has been my dream to rid the world of Muggles and Muggle-borns. I know you will finish this task for me.  
  
Grindelwald  
  
Tom had been so caught up in his memories that he didn't realize he was already on the first floor. The next task Grindelwald had planned was to unleash the King of Serpents. He had not specified how to do this, however, so Tom had spent all his time since Grindelwald had died trying to figure it out. Finally he had, and now he had to enter a secret chamber that Salazar Slytherin had once built. In contained the only living Basilisk in the world, and the creature could only be controlled by a Parselmouth.  
  
Tom took a deep breath and opened the door to a girls' bathroom. Why did the entrance to the Chamber of Secret have to be in a girls' toilet? Tom thought to himself. He looked around for the entrance, but he didn't see anything unusual. I should just give up, he thought. I'm not strong enough for this.  
  
"Oh, but you are…" came a hissing voice.  
  
"What?" Tom said, turning around rapidly. "Who said that?"  
  
The voice sighed. "Since you're Slytherin's heir, I will tell you where the entrance to the Chamber is, but nothing more."  
  
Tom, still looking around frantically for the voice, noticed that one of the taps was beginning to glow brightly. He approached it cautiously and the glowing stopped. But now he noticed something he had not seen before. This tap had a snake on in.  
  
"Uh…open up?" he hissed at it. The tap opened, revealing a long slide. Tom took a deep breath and jumped in. 


End file.
